diff --git a/smartthings_local/protocol/dtls_probe.py b/smartthings_local/protocol/dtls_probe.py
index bc0216a..b950383 100644
--- a/smartthings_local/protocol/dtls_probe.py
+++ b/smartthings_local/protocol/dtls_probe.py
@@ -45,6 +45,10 @@
 from .dtls_handshake import _drive_dtls_handshake, _validate_mtu
 from .endpoint import open_host_filtered_udp_socket
 
+# A close_notify is a two-byte alert inside one record, so this only has to
+# clear OpenSSL's queued shutdown rather than a whole flight.
+_SHUTDOWN_READ_SIZE = 4096
+
 # DTLS record content types (RFC 6347 §4.1)
 _CT_CHANGE_CIPHER_SPEC = 20
 _CT_ALERT = 21
@@ -710,6 +714,37 @@ def _accept_any_peer_chain(*_args):
     return True
 
 
+def _release_peer(connection, sock):
+    """Send close_notify so the appliance frees the peer this run allocated.
+
+    The appliance firmware frees a peer entry when it receives close_notify,
+    and has no idle timeout that would reclaim one otherwise, so a diagnostic
+    that closed its socket without a shutdown left association state behind
+    for the life of the appliance. Measured on 2026-10-04: six completed
+    diagnostics inside six minutes took a healthy dryer's DTLS endpoint down
+    for about seven minutes, while its ICMP and plaintext CoAP kept answering
+    normally.
+
+    The connection is a memory BIO, so ``shutdown()`` only queues the alert;
+    it has to be read back out and sent here. Best effort by design -- the
+    caller already has its result, and a peer this fails to release is the
+    behaviour that shipped before, so nothing here may raise.
+    """
+    try:
+        connection.shutdown()
+    except SSL.Error:
+        return
+    try:
+        pending = connection.bio_read(_SHUTDOWN_READ_SIZE)
+    except SSL.Error:
+        return
+    for record in split_dtls(pending):
+        try:
+            sock.send(record)
+        except OSError:
+            return
+
+
 def _validate_diagnostic_auth(auth, cert_pem, key_pem, cert_path, key_path):
     if auth is None:
         return
@@ -881,6 +916,7 @@ def record_datagram(datagram):
             result.outcome = COMPLETED
             if result.rtt_s is None:
                 result.rtt_s = time.monotonic() - started
+            _release_peer(conn, sock)
     except SSL.Error:
         # A fatal Alert lands here; record_datagram() has already classified
         # the alert record before it is fed back into OpenSSL.
diff --git a/tests/test_dtls_probe.py b/tests/test_dtls_probe.py
index 927d378..9028a5c 100644
--- a/tests/test_dtls_probe.py
+++ b/tests/test_dtls_probe.py
@@ -977,3 +977,50 @@ def test_iter_handshake_fragments_falls_back_on_a_truncated_header():
 
     assert [(name, seq, off) for name, seq, off, _ in got] == [
         ('HelloVerifyRequest', None, 0)]
+
+
+def test_completed_diagnostic_releases_the_peer_with_close_notify(monkeypatch):
+    # The appliance firmware frees a peer entry when it receives close_notify
+    # and has no idle timeout that reclaims one, so a diagnostic that
+    # completed and then closed its socket left association state behind.
+    # Measured on 2026-10-04: six completed diagnostics inside six minutes
+    # took a healthy dryer's DTLS endpoint down for about seven minutes while
+    # its ICMP and plaintext CoAP kept answering normally.
+    cert_pem, key_pem = _synthetic_ec_server_credentials()
+    server_cert, server_key = _synthetic_ec_server_credentials()
+    fake = _FakeSock(
+        _LoopbackDtlsServer(
+            _server_context(
+                cipher=b'ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:@SECLEVEL=0',
+                cert_pem=server_cert,
+                key_pem=server_key,
+            )
+        )
+    )
+    _patch_sock(monkeypatch, fake)
+
+    result = p.diagnose_dtls_handshake(
+        '127.0.0.1', 5684, cert_pem=cert_pem, key_pem=key_pem, timeout=2.0)
+
+    assert result.outcome == p.COMPLETED
+    assert fake.sends, 'the diagnostic sent nothing'
+    last = fake.sends[-1]
+    assert last[0] == p._CT_ALERT
+    # Sent under the negotiated epoch, so the two alert bytes are ciphertext
+    # here; the record type and a non-zero epoch are what identify it.
+    assert last[3:5] == b'\x00\x01'
+
+
+def test_diagnostic_that_never_completed_sends_no_alert(monkeypatch):
+    # Scope line for the release above. Before the handshake finishes there is
+    # no session for OpenSSL to shut down, and an appliance that answers with
+    # a fatal alert has already dropped the peer itself, so this path stays as
+    # it shipped.
+    fake = _FakeSock(lambda sock: None)
+    _patch_sock(monkeypatch, fake)
+
+    result = p.diagnose_dtls_handshake(
+        '127.0.0.1', 5684, timeout=0.3, retries=0)
+
+    assert result.outcome != p.COMPLETED
+    assert all(datagram[0] != p._CT_ALERT for datagram in fake.sends)